Idoit-Proof Guides for talk and wall

[VirtualLinuxUser]

Hi.

This might look like a newbie question, so I apologise if this is posted in the wrong category.

Here's my issue :

My boss and I are both using Ubuntu 10 rigs in a local network. We want to use command-line chat programs across a network (and not Skype). After doing some research on the net, I found out that I can use both talk and wall. However, to me the manual pages (see links) for these two programs are confusing. Will somebody please point me to online documentation that provides idiot-proof guides for these programs? Thanks in advance.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not half as bad as a whole lot of misinformation or incomprehensible technical documentation.

[reed9]

I'm not sure if talk is really the best solution. It's the precursor to modern instant messenger clients, of which there are a plethora of command line options.

A few console im clients:
Main Page - CenterIM
Using Finch ? Pidgin ? Trac
Freetalk - console based Jabber client - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
MCabber Homepage
barnowl ? Trac

[VirtualLinuxUser]

Thanks for your response, reed. I've had a look at what you've suggested. It all looks a bit involved, so I think I'll stick with pidgin.